Get Outside and Train!
With the weather in the Northeast finally turning a corner...I've finally gotten my ass off my beloved trainer and onto the road! Last week was a really terrific training week. I suppose I'm two weeks behind on logging my hours, so I'll catch you up on that first. Two weeks ago was a very welcome recovery week for me. I really reached a breaking point with indoor training and gladly recouped my body for my final 13 weeks of training. So not too much to report for two weeks ago on the training front. 6 hours and change of very easy workouts, which included a trip to Cleveland for a wedding in addition to a run around all things Cleveland prior to the wedding. Driving from the Philly burbs to Cleveland is pretty simple. Maybe about 3 or 4 exits in total over a 6 hour drive.
Last week was a real gem on the swim, bike and run front.
14:06:07 in total.
There were highlights to be had in all three disciplines.
On Wednesday I rocked a 4500 yard swim broken down as follows:
900,800,700,600,500,400,300,200,100
1 minute rest in between each swim.
1:11:00 in total with rest.
1:03:00 of swimming with no rest.
After 4200 yards (approximate IM distance), I had been swimming (sans rest intervals) for roughly 59 minutes. Overall, the 4500 swim was a great confidence booster. My endurance is starting to feel really dialed in when I'm spending time in the pool. With all that said, this journey is not about posting a blazing swim time. If it was I'd work my tail off to post some type of sub-60 swim in Mirror Lake. However, that's just not what this journey is all about. Truth be told, I really just want my swim to feel like my bike warm-up. If I exit Mirror Lake in 80 minutes, I'll be fine with it. My general feeling on an Ironman swim is that you shouldn't flip out about it unless you fall in one of two buckets:
1. You are shooting for a Kona Spot
2. You believe you will be close to the 2:20 Ironman swim cutoff based on your training
Luckily I don't fall into either of these buckets, so I don't fret too much about the swim. 65 minutes, 70 minutes, 80 minutes. They all seem like the same thing if I'm going to be out on the course for up to 17 hours.
Anyhow...enough about swimming. I also had a pretty sweet run on Thursday. I had the good fortune of having a day off of work on Thursday, which allowed me to go get my annual physical. FYI...my ticker is functioning fine if you had any concerns based on my fainting episode which I touched on in a prior post. I had an EKG done as a precautionary measure and the results came back completely normal. As a side note, the doc was also impressed with my weight loss. 24 pounds and counting! Following my physical I hit the road for a 12 mile run. It turned into a really kick ass effort.
Total time for the 12 miler was 1:42:01. Final ten miles were done in 1:23:45 (which would be my stand alone ten mile PR). I think my running has come a long way in the last year. Certainly better than my 1:59 at the Philly Distance Run (Half Marathon distance). That said, losing an additional 15 pounds would continue to make life easier for me out on the roads.
Saturday was my first bike ride outside this year. 53.5 miles. About 16.8 mph, which wasn't bad considering the bike and pedestrian traffic on the route I was riding. I will say that I think I didn't ride hard enough on my trainer this winter. After 3 hours on the bike I felt much more toasted than I would after 3 hours on the trainer. I did enjoy getting back on my aerobars and having to actually work on things like balance. Riding on a trainer kind of seems like learning how to walk without being constrained by the laws of gravity. I topped off the ride with a 4 mile brick run. It took about 2 miles to feel like I had run legs.
Sunday was another brick day. About 28 miles of relatively easy riding...followed by a 6 mile run...followed by a 1500 yard cool down in the pool.
The reward for the end of the week was a gourmet sushi dinner prepared by Silvia's Mom. She is an unbelievable cook and I feel so fortunate to be at the dinner table any time she is in the kitchen!
14:06:07. Not bad for a dude who couldn't run for 5 minutes only 2 years ago.
Thanks very much for reading.
Last week was a real gem on the swim, bike and run front.
14:06:07 in total.
There were highlights to be had in all three disciplines.
On Wednesday I rocked a 4500 yard swim broken down as follows:
900,800,700,600,500,400,300,200,100
1 minute rest in between each swim.
1:11:00 in total with rest.
1:03:00 of swimming with no rest.
After 4200 yards (approximate IM distance), I had been swimming (sans rest intervals) for roughly 59 minutes. Overall, the 4500 swim was a great confidence booster. My endurance is starting to feel really dialed in when I'm spending time in the pool. With all that said, this journey is not about posting a blazing swim time. If it was I'd work my tail off to post some type of sub-60 swim in Mirror Lake. However, that's just not what this journey is all about. Truth be told, I really just want my swim to feel like my bike warm-up. If I exit Mirror Lake in 80 minutes, I'll be fine with it. My general feeling on an Ironman swim is that you shouldn't flip out about it unless you fall in one of two buckets:
1. You are shooting for a Kona Spot
2. You believe you will be close to the 2:20 Ironman swim cutoff based on your training
Luckily I don't fall into either of these buckets, so I don't fret too much about the swim. 65 minutes, 70 minutes, 80 minutes. They all seem like the same thing if I'm going to be out on the course for up to 17 hours.
Anyhow...enough about swimming. I also had a pretty sweet run on Thursday. I had the good fortune of having a day off of work on Thursday, which allowed me to go get my annual physical. FYI...my ticker is functioning fine if you had any concerns based on my fainting episode which I touched on in a prior post. I had an EKG done as a precautionary measure and the results came back completely normal. As a side note, the doc was also impressed with my weight loss. 24 pounds and counting! Following my physical I hit the road for a 12 mile run. It turned into a really kick ass effort.
Total time for the 12 miler was 1:42:01. Final ten miles were done in 1:23:45 (which would be my stand alone ten mile PR). I think my running has come a long way in the last year. Certainly better than my 1:59 at the Philly Distance Run (Half Marathon distance). That said, losing an additional 15 pounds would continue to make life easier for me out on the roads.
Saturday was my first bike ride outside this year. 53.5 miles. About 16.8 mph, which wasn't bad considering the bike and pedestrian traffic on the route I was riding. I will say that I think I didn't ride hard enough on my trainer this winter. After 3 hours on the bike I felt much more toasted than I would after 3 hours on the trainer. I did enjoy getting back on my aerobars and having to actually work on things like balance. Riding on a trainer kind of seems like learning how to walk without being constrained by the laws of gravity. I topped off the ride with a 4 mile brick run. It took about 2 miles to feel like I had run legs.
Sunday was another brick day. About 28 miles of relatively easy riding...followed by a 6 mile run...followed by a 1500 yard cool down in the pool.
The reward for the end of the week was a gourmet sushi dinner prepared by Silvia's Mom. She is an unbelievable cook and I feel so fortunate to be at the dinner table any time she is in the kitchen!
14:06:07. Not bad for a dude who couldn't run for 5 minutes only 2 years ago.
Thanks very much for reading.
posted by Jeremy at 1:24 PM
6 Comments:
Hot damn, Jeremy! Nice work. The weather was awesome this week in the northeast - made training so much easier and more fun.
Wow, that was a great training week. I also appreciated your wise conclusions on the swim portion of IM as well.
Sounds like you've come a long way. You're cranking on those swim workouts!
Good post!
Solid training there Jeremy!
Ditto Donald's comment...dude, you are a fish!
With a wetsuit and drafting, you'll be even faster come race day!
Great progress on the weight loss- keep chopping.
Jeremy,
About the balance and the bike, that's so true. I rode for the first time last Sat and I felt like I am riding on two wheels for the first time. Almost fell while unclipping :).
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